Samsung Galaxy Nexus Docks and Chargers Get a Proper Fondling, Prongs Put to Use

Been wondering what the 3 metal prongs on the side of the Galaxy Nexus will be used for? We assumed accessories, but thanks to a series of videos out of MobileFun, we get to see exactly how those accessories will put those prongs to work. A new landscape desktop dock is featured along with a battery charger for those of us that are forced to carry backups because of LTE’s never ending thirst for juice. The portrait and car docks are also featured, which according to our sources, are expected to be at $59.99 and $39.99 respectively.

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why no landscape homescreen? am i missing a setting somewhere? rather annoying

Anonymous

The LTE verison of the car dock does NOT have the 3 POGO ports to permanently connect your dock to the car charger like the GSM version it is basically just a plastic holder. It does have cutouts so you can manually connect it everytime you dock, but I want a permanent port like my droid x car dock has, it is extremely convenient. Does ANYONE know if the GSM version that does have the permanent ports works with the LTE version. I’ve done a ton of searching and found that it DOES fit, but I want some confirmation before I order international that it fits AND will charge without issue. ANYONE KNOW?? kellex please find out since you have both versions and create a blog entry about it

Anonymous

is there a car dock mode like the droid x? Or can an app be created to take advantage of the API that allows the phone to know it is in the dock so it can auotmatically open up the car dock app? This is very important to me, and would love to see a developer build a very customizable app

Samsung would have needed to build magnets into the phone like Motorola has done. Based on the videos above, it does not look like that is the case. You can download an app that would act very similar, but you would need to start it up yourself each time.

Anonymous

There are apps that detect if anything’s plugged into the USB and will default to a chosen app or launcher. Annoying if you want to plug in at home, but it IS an alternative…

Is it weird that the stock launcher appears to only support portrait mode on the internal display?

Also, will landscape launching be the default (only?) option for the HDMI out? That might further explain a portrait HDMI dock.

Tuantsg

too bad none of these work when u have a case on the phoneee..

James Friedman

I want to buy the car dock but it won’t fit with a rubber case….anyone have a good easy mount/unmount dock recommendation? That’s my only fear of buying one of those universal ones. Do you have to resize the holder every time you want to pop it in and out?

Not such a good idea when you consider that the demo is missing the 2 cables that should/could be plugged into it (12V and audio).

Anonymous

I have to say that the Bionic/RZAR accessories were much more impressive…

Kevin Parlee

Getting the Car dock!

Anonymous

So when does this phone come to Verizon? And just to be clear, the Galaxy SII is not coming to Verizon correct?

Dan Brown

Dec. 8 or 9th, and correct, NO G SII on VZW.

Anonymous

: So I’m taking the spare battery charger and the vehicle dock (yeah, even though I live in NYC, lolol). I still DO own a car and use it from time to time. Haha.

Anonymous

I’m all over the portrait dock, and possibly the car mount. Although I wish Sammy would have put together a similar car mount that you just stick into an empty cupholder. I seriously hate sticking crap to my windshield, especially when I already have a 7″ nav screen built into the dash. I’m not using this for nav, I don’t need it on the windshield.

I wish the car dock piece doubled as a case that you could just snap off when you get out of the car.

Christopher Riner

now if only they could have turned the four of these into just two of them. Greeeeaaat marketing, guys, bc i know im gonna wind up buying them all. I use a car dock for my droid charge, and the media dock (which for the charge, the media dock has a spare battery compartment)– which even comes with its own battery. I wonder how much the little battery charger will be if it comes with an nfc enabled battery?

Dan Brown

Yes, I believe the technology that sends HDMI over micro USB is universal, so adapters should be plenty.

You watch rented Google Market Android Movies over HDMI?? I have a Transformer tablet (honeycomb 3.2) and Google Movies blocks the HDMI out! XDA is all over it.

joejoe5709

Kellex:

I have a question: Do you think they will support MHL video and audio through the Landscape Dock’s USB port? I know that almost defeats the purpose of the HDMI dock, but I would find that feature very useful.

Anonymous

The landscape dock doesn’t even plug into the Galaxy Nexus’s USB port. So that dock can only be used for charging. On the other hand, you can plug whatever you want into the USB port of the phone itself, since that is not being used by the dock.

id like the car dock and the landscape dock. Come on! release this badboy!

r8rs

*I’d*- you should’ve never tried to be a grammar nazi bud.

miscreant

I may nab a car dock that will properly fit an Otterbox or similar case. Generally, Otterbox has been pretty good about making cases that allow for docking. I text and drive, a lot. And I shouldn’t. If the voice-to-text recognition is as good as they’re claiming it to be, I’m all in for one of those, as I do a lot of driving!

Do the docks look nifty? Sure. Am I going to pay $40 or $60 dollars for a piece of plastic that will hold my (still officially non-existent) phone upright? HELL no!

Anonymous

I wonder how good the audio signal is via the 3 prong system. The audio out of my headphone jack compared to running my OG Droid as a usb drive was night and day difference.

I really want a horizontal HDMI car dock. Sucks that you have to use the USB connector for that.

Anonymous

All I need is that HDMI dock and I’ll be happy.

Rlbjunkmail

Car dock seems lame. It would be nice if the cradle piece were removable for dash mounting (such as OG droid) that way you don’t have to fumblefuck with a suction cup every time you use it, and having slime rings all over your “windscreen”. Or lean forward a foot and a half to use the touch screen. Or block your field of vision with something mounted on your windshield.

LionStone

Maybe someone will make a car mount that will allow dash/cup holder mount like the one I use, except I do like using it with the wind “screen” option because it is convenient on long commutes. Mine I just leave on the glass so I simply just drop the phone in when I want to use it. I dont use a phone cover so its no hassle there.

With bluetooth for calls, Pandora for music, calls and text, everything is right there so I never have to look down. If I choose to reply to a text, I can easily with voice. I run AlarmClock Plus screensaver so it keeps my screen ‘live’ so I dont have to push the power/wake button to view or to use functions, I just tap the screen to wake. Its nice because I can easily read a text coming in on the notification bar or vm without touching the phone. So the GN car dock is great because like others have said, it will be very convenient to only have to drop the phone in without plugging in aux cord too.

Anonymous

I smell a lawsuit. The battery charger looks exactly like an iPhone 4.

Anonymous

“We sent you instructions on how to avoid lawsuits…” if they took those same concepts and applied those to televisions, every single one is a copy of each other…

Zebra

Should have bought more than one of the $50 Verizon accessory deals. Car and portrait dock look awesome. Will be nice to just set the phone in there, versus having to line it up perfectly like on my Droid X dock. And audio out on the Car dock means no longer having to plug/unplug the 3.5mm aux cable into my phone every time I get in the car.

Why doesnt Samsung make cases that will work? It buggs me a bit but w/e

Jason

probably just because there are so many different types of case with diff sizes and textures, easier for them to just make you take it off lol IMHO

Anonymous

Cause cases are useless. Phones are built fairly robustly. My droid x2 has survived being dropped off a balcony, and many times just off a table, and is no worse for the wear. Besides, phones feel better naked.

gadgetryan

can i have the phone now? Ive been good!! I didnt buy anything on Black Friday or Cyber Monday!!

Did he say the audio jack on the car dock is to put in your headphones? I don’t know about where he comes from, but that is illegal in Texas

Anonymous

Not to be trollish, but he’s a Brit. Likely doesn’t know the first thing about Texas motor vehicle laws… except the one where you’re allowed to drink if you’re in the back seat. ‘Cause he’s a Brit.

Kelly

that car dock is diesel! I could find a use for all of those docks! Though I wish they had a portrait version that somehow made use of the connectors rather than the usb to charge it. Definitely will be getting the car dock and battery charger – I always carry a spare in my purse, and now this comes with a nice case / stand too 🙂

Anonymous

Taking bets that AT&T release their Nexus first. Looks like it just passed through the FCC.

Robby McElhaney

Why couldn’t they have added an HDMI port to the landscape dock? Would have made more sense to not have to buy 2 devices, one for charging, one for viewing HDMI. Also, why not include the battery charger with the landscape dock, as in making it one docking, charging, HDMI viewing unit?

And a 3.5mm audio jack on the car dock? I can think of safer ways to listen to your music while IN your car…

Cam

Likely to hook to the Aux input on your car stereo. That’s what I generally do if I am using the navigation; it’s the only way to hear the directions over music playing.

Zebra

Same use here. Will be nice to just be able to keep the 3.5mm plugged into the dock, rather than plug it into the phone every time you get in the car.

On the other hand, the third pin can be used for that. The three pins on a battery typically are two charging pins and a sensor (e.g., for temperature). That third pin need not be exported. Consequently, the three pins may be a common analog ground and two single-ended signal pins (where one is for charging and the other for audio output).

(after all, there are no buttons on the dock to put it into pairing mode. Did the N1’s dock have a pairing switch?)

Anonymous

Kinda curious about the car dock, myself. Wondering how it keeps the device in place. From what I can tell, it’s just using friction, which never seems to work. (get into a slight fender bender, and watch the phone pop out and go bouncing) Hopefully there’s some sort of retainer clip that you can slide to lock it into place or something.

David Klonne

The dock’s aren’t plug in so the phone isn’t registering anything. I’m sure it behaves just like we think it will when the docks have power

I’m running cm7 on my D2, whenever I put it in the car dock the phone automatically goes into a “Car Mode” with big buttons for easy use while driving, I always thought that was a stock android feature. Does ICS not have that?

Bill Anderson

Good catch. The Droid series uses a magnet sensor to put it into Car Dock mode or Desk Dock mode. Doesn’t look like this has it. Work-around: Get a NFC sticker to put on the dock and use an app like this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1359057

EC8CH

correct there are different magnet locations between the car dock and desktop dock on the Droid’s that trigger the specific applications

Anonymous

actually, it uses the magnet’s polarity to tell which dock it is in. 1 magnet. In one dock the side facing out is the positive side, and in the other it is the negative side of the magnet. Pretty ingenious if you ask me 🙂 (You should be able to test this your self with 1 magnet)

EC8CH

That is pretty awesome, I never knew that. Thanks!

Jason

I was always wondering how they did that myself! Pretty cool

Anonymous

I know how it all works with the magnets and everything, but I was talking more about the software side of things. The application is called “Car Home” and as far I know it comes pre-installed on stock gingerbread, however, I’ve noticed that this “Car Home” app is nowhere to be seen on the Galaxy Nexus.

Actually I just check and realized that the “Car Home” app is available on the market for free, so I’m sure you could just install it on the Gnex and use it the same. I really don’ t care about the magnets launching it automatically, as long as its on there I can just launch it myself right before I throw it on the dock.

Ry D

I’ve had that stock on my Nexus One, you could even customize the colour of the buttons. It’s a Google Developed App so I’m pretty sure it’ll be incorporated to be automatic with the Bluetooth Car Dock, pretty sure it’s a setting in the DOCK section to automatically launch that.

Jim Davis

That NFC program looks totally awesome! I actually ripped out the magnet from my OG Droid car dock because I didn’t like the car home application.

James

It’s not a stock feature. CM isn’t really stock so that’s why it has it. I guess having stock Android isn’t always a good thing.

GdgtDude

That’s actually pretty disappointing for me.

Anonymous

That is stock android. Its a built in app

Christopher LaPointe

Of course it will. These videos don’t have power running through the docks, which means they’re not entering their correct home/car dock states. I had the same concern when I first plugged my Bionic into it’s car dock and nothing happened. Then I realized that it needed electricity through a charging cable (which wasn’t necessary with my last phone, the OG Droid). Plugged in the cable and it acted like normal. I’m assuming the Galaxy Nexus will be the same way.

Roderick Cross

I want one, gimme gimme gimme please with a cherry on top.

Justin Kos

wtb

Dominick DeVito

That is rather stupid – the OG turns into a clock when docked, why wasn’t something like that added to the g-nex. WTF

Anonymous

OG achieve that with magnet position discovery, which plays havoc with magnet latched holster. They’re going away from that.

I had the worst nightmare last night that this whole Galaxy Nexus hooplah was a giant hoax. I woke up screaming and in a cold sweat. Luckily, I log on to Droid Life today to find a plethora of GN videos.

Anonymous

I had a dream I was at a Verizon store and was waiting for the Nexus so long I had to take a leak real bad. After waiting as long as I could I went out to the back of the store and found a corner behind some boxes and started peeing everywhere for a long time.

Then I woke up to find there must have been a leak in my roof or something but I can seem to find where it came from.

audio and power, I was surprised by that too. Its a really nifty feature

EC8CH

it will save wear and tear on the phone’s 3.5mm jack for me

Anonymous

and the hassle every time getting in/out of the car

Mctypething

you have wear and tear on your headphone jack? What the hell are you doing to it?

EC8CH

Instead of having to plug my headphones in out of my phone all day, Now they can stay plugged into the dock and I can just grab my phone.

Anonymous

My DX has been really bad lately with it’s jack for this exact reason. I am SO excited to see this.

Bill Anderson

Way cool, but how do they do this! They need power, ground, left audio and right audio. That’s would be four connectors! How do these wizards do it with three? Which craft and sorcery here, people!

bigrob60

If it weighs the same, as a duck then, is a product of which craft and should be burned at the stake.

Bill Anderson

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

bigrob60

Tim the Enchanter.

PyroHoltz

Couldn’t it just be digital audio, like SPDIF? Power, ground and xmit.

Anonymous

That is what I’m hoping for.

Bill Anderson

That’s true! I thought about I2S, but that needs separate clocking lines. I didn’t even think of SPDIF. That would work and hopefully give the docks true line-level out rather than headphone-amplified outputs. Sweet!

RandomThunder

This is probably false. The dock likely uses bluetooth for audio and pipes it to the audio jack. This is how the Nexus One docks worked.

EC8CH

I think I remember that. The N1 dock passed though FCC certification because it used Bluetooth.

Gasaraki

The 3 pins are used to pass audio and power. It’s not false.

Dominick DeVito

Does anyone think the car mount can also be used on a desk?

Interstellarmind

totally. would be a cool setup with a wireless keyboard.

xformulax

absolutely, I plan on only buying the car dock…I have a $10 “dash mat for gps mount” that i’ll take into the office with me to use as a desk mount.

you can also get a dashboard adhesive disc that the suction cup will mount to, most car docks actually come with one because some states don’t allow windshield mounts.

xformulax

we also have coasters in the bedroom that resemble a square of tile, may be enough to attach the suction cup to.

(on the other hand, the portrait dock here is so thin that it might double as a kickstand — maybe with a few post-it notes propping up the other end of the phone)

Anonymous

Its silly, buy you could get an mhl adapter and plug it in. somewhat negating the purpose of having a dock, but better than nothing.

Anonymous

But still if you think about it, the on screen buttons stay on that bottom lip in landscape mode. If all you are doing is watching movies using this, then the back button will stay put, and you can use that to back out of the movie. I dunno. I want a landscape hdmi dock too…

Okay, so maybe not “you.” But the point is that it’s fine to criticize that there is no landscape HDMI dock, because Samsung could have designed one pretty easily (moreover, 3rd parties should be able to design one pretty easily).

The external display is definitely shown in landscape mode. If that’s the only view available on the HDMI out (which you could argue makes sense), then it doesn’t matter if the HDMI dock is upright.

FortitudineVincimus

That car dock clearly is made by Satechi

STiK

Jan. can’t get here soon enough for all you Nexus Lemmings can it? haha

Anonymous

Hoping this stuff can come as a bundle in costco.

Interstellarmind

…can we tweet spam vxq support and verizonwireless again? i feel like if the phone’s not in my hand then i need to do something to tell verizon it needs to be!!!

Interstellarmind

vzw support*

Dominick DeVito

@ VZWSupport

Anonymous

Salivating…hope there is news of a costco bundle soon after the announcement

Anonymous

Does Costco usually do some kind of bundle? What kind of discounts do they offer? This will be my first Verizon phone, so I’m not familiar with what their retailer/partners offer… Thanks!

Jason

Costco usually has some pretty sweet accessory package bundles with phones. If you shop there than I would definetly check them out before you buy! Usually they will have it on here as well, just gotta keep checking

Anonymous

Kinda wish there was a landscape HDMI dock … but I’ll take what I can at this point!! JUST NEED THE DAMN PHONE!

FortitudineVincimus

So wait, if you turn it sideways, ICS does not orient the screen landscape, WTF??

Correct, stock launch never has, and it’s no different with the G-Nex. Apps obviously do, including the clock app.

FortitudineVincimus

the ICS “stock launcher” better have this most basic of functions, please…

Ravnos CC

boooo

Joe

Uh, no, my GN’s homescreen does rotate sideways with the stock launcher in use. While I don’t have a link for an example, if you look at most hands on demoes you’ll see that this is true. You’ll see the soft back-home-multitask keys stack up sideways on the right side.

Orin

Yeah, my home screen soft keys stack up on the right, too, when I rotate the display. No, wait… that’s just me turning the phone sideways.

FortitudineVincimus

Agreed.. BUT it is the almighty ICS and it is 2011 already and launchers from 2009 had that ability, come on. who the f**** wants horizontal dock and cock their head to read the screen.. 100% stupid

there was an issue id asking for this feature that I stared, but then I started using LP and kind of lost interest in the stock launchers inability. Now the stock launcher looks pretty slick, but its a shame it still can’t do landscape.

Ravnos CC

Agreed, it doesn’t make sense to me either that, at the very least, the setting to allow auto-rotation of the screen should be buried somewhere under display settings…

Anonymous

I don’t even want a dock, so this means nothing to me. Never had a dock, never will. Unless it came with it free.

Anonymous

You should show them and not buying a Nexus, or any other phone running or that will run ICS. Fight the power!

Rick

He might have rotation turned off, as if you watched other reviews the launcher rotated.